Toward sustainable forest management indicators? A data mining approach to evaluate the impact of silvicultural practices on stand structure

Salvati, Luca; Becagli, Claudia; Bertini, Giada; Cantiani, Paolo; Ferrara, Carlotta; Fabbio, Gianfranco

doi:10.1080/13504509.2016.1239138

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These practices occur during the intermediate ages of stand lifespan, whereas the traditional application was routinely applied since the early stages of stand development. Both the methods and context of practice implementation are therefore typical of an adaptive approach [39,[42][43][44][45][46]. This task was performed by the survey of routine measurement variables and a few selected indexes of stand structure to create a cost-effective descriptive tool.…”

Section: Logical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Land Management, Adaptive Silviculture, and New Forest Challenges: Evidence from a Latitudinal Gradient in Italy

Fabbio¹,

Cantiani²,

Ferretti³

et al. 2018

Sustainability

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aimed at reducing structural homogeneity and symmetrical competition in even-aged forest stands and enhancing stand structure diversity, the present study contributes to the design and implementation of adaptive silvicultural practices with two objectives: (1) preserving high wood production rates under changing environmental conditions and (2) ensuring key ecological services including carbon sequestration and forest health and vitality over extended stand life-spans. Based on a quantitative analysis of selected stand structure indicators, the experimental design was aimed at comparing customary practices of thinning from below over the full standing crop and innovative practices of crown thinning or selective thinning releasing a pre-fixed number of best phenotypes and removing direct crown competitors. Experimental trials were established at four beech forests along a latitudinal gradient in Italy: Cansiglio, Veneto; Vallombrosa, Tuscany; Chiarano, Abruzzo; and Marchesale, Calabria). Empirical results indicate a higher harvesting rate is associated with innovative practices compared with traditional thinning. A multivariate discriminant analysis outlined significant differences in post-treatment stand structure, highlighting the differential role of structural and functional variables across the study sites. These findings clarify the impact of former forest structure in shaping post-treatment stand attributes. Monitoring standing crop variables before and after thinning provides a basic understanding to verify intensity and direction of the applied manipulation, the progress toward the economic and ecological goals, as well as possible failures or need for adjustments within a comprehensive strategy of adaptive forest management.

show abstract

Section: Logical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Land Management, Adaptive Silviculture, and New Forest Challenges: Evidence from a Latitudinal Gradient in Italy

Fabbio¹,

Cantiani²,

Ferretti³

et al. 2018

Sustainability

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A permanent assessment of climate regime in forest sites has a key role in forest resource conservation and preservation of ecosystem services, biodiversity and landscape multi-functionality, informing sustainable forest management (Marchetti et al 2014, Salvati et al 2016. In this view, timeseries of meteorological data relative to several monitoring sites from the ICP-Forest network in Italy, were analyzed with the aim to define the minimum number of site-specific observations, which can be considered adequate for further analysis on forest resource management (Marchi et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Setting Up Optimal Meteorological Networks: An Example From Italy

Aromolo

Moretti

Sorgi

2023

SPEE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A permanent assessment of climate regime in forest sites has a key role in forest resource conservation and preservation of ecosystem services, biodiversity and landscape multi-functionality, informing sustainable forest management. In this view, time-series of meteorological data relative to several monitoring sites from the ICP-Forest network in Italy, were analyzed with the aim to define the number of site-specific observations, which can be considered adequate for further analysis on forest resource management. The relative importance of each factor accounted in our analysis (season, year, variable, plot, sampling proportion) was investigated comparing results through the use of descriptive statistics.

show abstract

“…Several approaches and behaviors can be helpful to achieve SFM. Among these are innovating silvicultural treatments [7], valorizing residues through the development of…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variations of Soil Physico-Chemical and Biological Features after Logging Using Two Different Ground-Based Extraction Methods in a Beech High Forest—A Case Study

Venanzi

Latterini

Stefanoni

et al. 2022

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Considering that forests are crucial in the ecosystem of our planet and that forests provide timber products as well as several ecosystem services, it is evident that the application of sustainable forest operations (SFOs) is of substantial importance to achieve sustainable forest management (SFM). One of the most important issues to be evaluated when dealing with SFOs is limiting the disturbance and impacts related to logging. Harvesting activities can indeed alter the conditions of soil through compaction and litter removal which can also lead to modifications from the biological point of view, for example, diminishing the presence of soil microarthropods. While keeping these objectives in focus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate physico-chemical and biological impacts on forest soil in Mediterranean beech forests after forest logging with two different extraction systems, which are forestry-fitted farm tractors equipped with winch and forwarder. Specifically, authors aimed to investigate: (i) soil disturbance levels of ground-based extraction methods; (ii) soil disturbance levels of the applied forestry intervention; (iii) soil disturbance levels between winching-skidding and forwarding. Findings showed that the physical, chemical, and biological soil features were slightly disturbed by the forestry itself. In addition, forest operations and machine traffic showed clear soil disturbance, resulting in a substantial alteration of the characteristics. Between the two extraction techniques tested, winching caused less disturbance while forwarding had stronger impacts. However, it should be noted that these impact levels are found only on approximately 28% of the surface where operations were carried out. From the evidence gathered in this study, winching seems a less impactful extraction method in the studied context. On the other hand, to decrease the impact of forwarding, some technical adjustments such as bogie-tracks, as well as improved operator training, should be applied.

show abstract

Toward sustainable forest management indicators? A data mining approach to evaluate the impact of silvicultural practices on stand structure

Cited by 7 publications

References 44 publications

Sustainable Land Management, Adaptive Silviculture, and New Forest Challenges: Evidence from a Latitudinal Gradient in Italy

Sustainable Land Management, Adaptive Silviculture, and New Forest Challenges: Evidence from a Latitudinal Gradient in Italy

Setting Up Optimal Meteorological Networks: An Example From Italy

Variations of Soil Physico-Chemical and Biological Features after Logging Using Two Different Ground-Based Extraction Methods in a Beech High Forest—A Case Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About